At the end of Norwich Free Academy’s 2009 freshman high school football season, where the Wildcats completed a 9-0 season with a final victory against Plainfield, coach Chance Martin made a bold prediction.

“He said, ‘There’s no doubt in my mind that this group will bring a championship to NFA before you guys leave,’ ” quarterback Joey Paparelli said.

Three years later, Martin’s prediction is one win from becoming a reality. Those 2009 freshman now are seniors, and they lead NFA into the CIAC Class LL state championship game against Xavier tonight at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The cast has changed, although not that much, but the bonds will remain forever strong no matter what happens on the field tonight.

There are about 2,500 students at Norwich Free Academy, and that means the social network can sometimes be stretched out. One may see his or her best friend in the hallway every now and again, or not at all. Paparelli remembered that he has had one class with a friend, offensive lineman Cody Brown ?— one class in four years.

The bonding, then, has come from football — from the long hours of training and practice, and from the games, including 12 victories without a loss this season, a team record.

“It’s been the most special time of my life so far. We’re just all great friends,” Brown said. “We work together in the weight room and are just all supportive of each other. It’s just been a great four years.”

Arriving from elsewhere

Some knew each other before they arrived, having played youth football in Norwich. Others, such as Paparelli, Brown and J.P. Kelly, for Griswold. Tyler Beauchesne came from Plainfield.

“They made me captain. They obviously liked me, so they must have saw something,” Beauchesne said with a laugh. “I just fit right in, they accepted me. I think we’re a special group. We’re nice to each other. We accept pretty much everyone.”

There have been some valuable additions, such as Tuzar Skipper and Airec Ricks, and there have been some deletions, players who “would have been a huge part of this team if they were still here,” only to have other players fill those roles, according to Paparelli.

Through it all, that core group remained.

“We were dedicated to a goal and we’ve stayed true to that,” Paparelli said. “That core group stayed around and kept fighting for it, and we got good experience as sophomores to see what winning is like.”

In 2010, the junior varsity finished with a 10-0 record for NFA, but some of the key members of the freshmen team had moved up to varsity already, including Paparelli, Beauchesne and Ryer Caruso.

Page 2 of 3 - A model group

It was a group that had come along just one year into Jemal Davis’ tenure as head coach of the Wildcats.

“You could not ask for a better group to have when you are really just starting off,” Davis said.

Davis recalled the senior group that he had in 2010, calling them “the models” for this current group.

“I told that group that they were not going to be forgotten,” Davis said. “As I was saying that, I was addressing it to the sophomores too, because I saw a lot of similarities — hard workers, will do anything you ask, great character kids. To have that in 2010, and to know that we were going to have that in 2012, was exciting.”

Brown said the group goes tubing together and to social functions such as Homecoming and Prom. This past summer, Beauchesne and Brown worked with Crooks for the landscaping business owned by Crooks’ father.

“I love the offensive line. I eat lunch with them pretty much every day; we’re great friends,” Paparelli said. “Ryer’s my bud, man. He’s a funny kid and we just have great chemistry in the locker room.”

Strong off the field

It makes the job of a head coach easier. Davis must worry not only about X’s and O’s of the football field, but academics too. Davis is a teacher before he’s a coach. Fortunately for him, the off-field performance has been just as good as what folks have seen on the field.

“You see how they’re performing academically and among their classmates, and you see that they are leaders and role models. You know that things will be fine because all we have to do is focus on football. We don’t have to worry about discipline issues,” Davis said. “That is not just because of me, that’s because of our teachers, our faculty and our parents.

“They have all bought into a common theme. They walk into a classroom, they know how to act. They walk out here, they know how to act. It makes coaching football easy.”

After a 9-0 freshman season and an 11-1 sophomore season (on the varsity level), the Wildcats in 2011 finished 7-3 with losses to Stonington, Waterford and New London.

They have returned with a roar this year, including victories over Newtown and Staples in the state playoffs. And now there is one game left. After tonight, the group no longer has football to bind it together.

Page 3 of 3 - “If you play college or high school football, those are the guys that will be in your wedding. Every time you see them, even if you haven’t seen them in 20 years, you will always remember them,” Paparelli said. “Football is a sport where … I think it has to do with the games being so spaced apart … that there are just memories. I can remember just about every game I played all four years and tell you pretty much what happened.”